Samsung Mobile

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum


Background

Samsung established its telecommunications division in 1977. The company started developing mobile phones in the mid 1990s under the "Anycall" branding in South Korea. Later on the company expanded its market in other territories, reporting over 40% growth in 2007 and becoming the second largest mobile device manufacturer in the world. The company launched its Fun Club internet portal in 2005 worldwide with multiple Samsung phones of the mid-2000s adopting its branding. Samsung is also the largest manufacturer of devices running Google's Android, with the Galaxy series having a 46% worldwide market share in 2012.



1st Logo (2002-2004)

Visuals:

  • Startup: After the GPRS logo, it cuts to a pink background with binary plastered over what appears to be the continents of the world, white outlined circles, and a hexagon shaped thingy. Two shiny lights and a wireframed sphere rotate on the outlined circles. White non-outlined circles (or spotlights) appear and brighten up. A countdown starting from 3 (in pink) appears and when it reaches 1 (in orange), the whole entire background brightens up and disappears leaving just a plain pink background with the Samsung wordmark (which is the word "S/\MSUNG" in the Linotype Univers 820 Condensed Black font and with the A having no line on it) in white.
  • Shutdown: Same as the startup animation but it looks different and with different animation. There is no GPRS logo and the pink background is replaced with an orange crystal background. An outlined circle comes into view from the left, and lands on the crystals. A flash appears and disappears along with the detail in the background which leaves just a plain dark orange background with the white "SEE YOU" in white and in the Arial (or Helvetica) font.

Variant: For the S200, it uses the same animation concept as the startup and shutdown, but both the pink background and the animation are different. Flares slide from down to up, and a flash appears on the left and the countdown from before appears this time in the left and instead of the background disappearing, it stays still with the Samsung wordmark in blue fading in. The shutdown is the same as the previous but the background looks similar to the S200 startup, albeit mirrored and blue, and the outlined circle animation plays in reverse.

Technique: Animated sequence stored in the phone's ROM.

Audio:

  • S100: For the startup, it's a peaceful xylophone theme that also plays on the GPRS logo. For the shutdown, it is a different xylophone theme that descends in pitch.
  • S200 and X426: For the startup, it has a happy-sounding harpsichord theme. For the shutdown, a different 4-note theme is used. These sounds are sometimes referred as "Classical".

Audio Trivia: The first 8 notes sound like the trademark "Over The Horizon" theme.

Availability: Seen on the Samsung S100, S200 and X426.

2nd Logo (2002-2006)

Visuals: Most of the time there's an animation which varies playing at the beginning, with the Samsung logo, mostly in blue or white, then fading in front of the screen. For the shutdown, an animation usually related to the startup animation plays, with the white text "See You", "Bye Bye", "Good Bye", or "Powering Off". Some variants have the Samsung logo appearing at the end, and some other variants fade out to a black screen.

Variants: The animation varies depending on each phone, but the most notable ones are:

  • Paper Airplane: For the startup, it shows a pink paper airplane flying up through a hilly background with sparkles behind it. The Samsung wordmark in white fades in. For the shutdown, the paper airplane flies down through a mountain background with sparkles in front of it. Then it fades out to a black background with the text "See You!". This version has no GPRS logo or splash screen at the beginning, like the Diamond one.
  • Diamond: For the startup, a purple diamond is shown spinning in a blue/dark purple/red environment. The screen then fades into a purple background with a pink-ish red light at the upper-left portion, and the Samsung wordmark in white fades in. For shutdown, there is a slate blue/teal diamond that lands on a glassy surface in a green/blue aurora enivronment, which then fades out and the text "Bye Bye" fades in.
  • Airplane: For the startup, it shows an airplane over a cloudy sky ready to take off. Then it fades into a still photograph two hands shaking each other and finally, the Samsung wordmark. For the shutdown, it has the airplane flying at sunrise. Then it fades out and only a black background with the text "SEE YOU!!" remains. This version has a different GPRS logo at the beginning.
  • Flowers: For the startup, there's a field at night with flowers and multiple lights that are floating. The camera moves up as the lights meet together. Once they collide together, they form a white background with the Samsung wordmark albeit being a little bit squished. For the shutdown, it's now set on a different flower field with a sunset sky. The lights just move around as the camera pans up. Then, the black background along with the text "SEE YOU !!" fade in. This version also has a different GPRS logo at the beginning.
  • Desert Ball: For the startup, it is on a desert, where 3 blue balls come into view and collide forming a white background with the Samsung wordmark but in a different font. There are also two versions of the shutdown. For the P400, one of the balls fall into a deep hole. Then it fades into a black background. For the X450, it's the same shutdown animation as the P400 but instead of fading into a black background, it fades into a white background with the same Samsung wordmark from the startup. This version also has a different GPRS logo at the beginning.
  • Swan: For the startup, it starts on a sunny sky with a sparkling sea. Swans come by flying through the right, and come closer to the left. The Samsung wordmark now in its original font fades in. For the shutdown, It is now sunset. The swans fly to the right and the sun goes down. This version has the normal GPRS logo.
  • Space Station: For the startup, it starts with a metallic portal opening up. The camera moves down to a shiny spaceship taking off from the pad and rising up into the portal. While the spaceship moves up, a white background with the Samsung wordmark fades in. For the shutdown, the camera goes up to the portal closing. Then, it fades onto a black background with "See You!!" in white. This version also has the normal GPRS logo.
  • Butterfly: For the startup, there is a close up of the yellow butterfly, which flies against a sunny field. A white background fades in without the Samsung wordmark. For the shutdown, it takes place on an icy background. The butterfly appears and flies away, as the ice breaks into water. Some text that says "Good Bye!" appears from the water. This version also has a different GPRS logo at the beginning.
  • Biplane: For the startup, a flying biplane passes by on a moving cloudy sky background, a sparkle appears on the tail of the biplane before it flies out of view, then the Samsung wordmark in its original font again zooms in while the cloudy sky background fades out to white. For the shutdown, the biplane passes by again and the "BYE BYE" text flies onto the screen. This version also has the normal GPRS logo.
  • Moon TV/Shooting Star: For the startup, the camera flies through the moon, where a TV can be seen in the distance. The camera zooms into the TV, which turns on and shows the Samsung wordmark in its original font again in blue. For the shutdown, it's night, and two meteors pass by. The camera pans down to the roses, and the screen fades out to the Samsung wordmark with the same font from the Desert Ball logo. This version has the 3rd GPRS logo variant at the beginning.
  • Flying Horse: For the startup, the glass wind horse is shown flying across the river at daytime for a second before the screen fades to a shot from the top view, where the same wind horse flies closely to the camera before the shot freeze-frames and gains a transparent white color, and the Samsung wordmark in blue fades in. For the shutdown, the same wind horse appears from the river and flies up to the right when a blue cloudy sky turns evening, and the shot dims and freeze-frames as the white text "Good Bye" fades in. This version's splash screen has the model number in white, with a dark blue outline on an underwater background with lined butterflyfish, a blue light in the upper right corner, and coral items in the background. This splash screen was used on most SGH- prefix phones released in late 2003-2004 with this logo.

Technique: CGI-animated sequence stored in the phone's ROM.

Audio:

  • The "Classical" startup and shutdown as mentioned before.
  • There's an alternate sound set used in some phones in which the startup starts with a bombastic trumpet following a playful theme with a xylophone and drums. The shutdown sound is a different playful theme with a "boing" sound. These sounds are sometimes referred as "Cheerful".

Audio Variants:

  • On some phones from 2002, like the T100 and T200, the xylophone themes from the 1st logo are used.
    • For the T100 shutdown, a different 4-note theme is used.
  • The "Classical" theme might be slightly re-arranged depending on the phone's sound chip.
  • On the T500, the "Classical" theme has two octaves. One is original and one is low-pitched.
    • On the P100 and V200, the shutdown sound is cut short. The normal "Classical" startup is used.
  • On Korean Anycall CDMA phones from 2002-2003, a 10-note arpeggiating harpsichord theme with a xylophone crescendo at the middle is heard for the startup. The shutdown sound is a 4-note descending theme with a bell instrument.
    • On the SPH-X8000, a different shutdown sound is used, consisting of a soothing, descending bell.
  • On a few Korean Anycall phones from 2003, like the SCH-V330, SCH-X800 and SPH-X8500, an energetic theme with synthesizers and horns is heard on the startup. The shutdown sound is a rhythmic theme with horns, ending with a warp at the end.
    • On the SCH-E150M, the "Cheerful" startup sound is coupled with the above mentioned shutdown.
  • On Anycall CDMA phones with SCH- prefix from 2003-2005, a different melodic theme is used. The shutdown sound has the last notes of the same theme.
  • On some Anycall devices, a dramatic arpeggiating theme with a slight beat and whooshes is heard. The shutdown has a shortened version of the theme with the arpeggio slightly modified. These sounds are sometimes referred as "Future".
  • On a few Korean devices, a mellow theme is used for the startup and shutdown. This music was extended on the SCH-E170, where a long, quiet intro is used. This theme would later appear with extra sound effects in other international phones and used for the vortex animation.
    • For the SCH-E170 shutdown, a soothing string/flute theme is used.
  • On a few Anycall CDMA phones with realtone capabilities, a funky theme is used for the startup and shutdown.
  • On Chinese Anycall devices, an oriental theme is used.
  • On the SP-D780RD, a disco-like theme with whooshes is used for the startup. The shutdown sound is a dramatic bell theme with a warped whoosh sound.

Availability: The variants mentioned are seen on these Samsung phones.

  • Paper Airplane: T100
  • Diamond: T500
  • Airplane: D100
  • Flowers: D410
  • Desert Ball: P400 and X450
  • Swan: S300 and S300M
  • Space Station: X400 and X410
  • Butterfly: P100 and V200
  • Biplane: E400
  • Moon TV/Shooting Star: C100
  • Flying Horse: E710

3rd Logo (2002-2003)

Visuals:

  • Startup: On a blurry, dominantly orange background, two lights appear from the sides, swirling into the center clockwise forming a circle which then disappears. The Samsung wordmark in white zooms out as the circle glows in briefly.
  • Shutdown: There are the same lights swirling into the circle as the words "Bye Bye !!", "See you!" or "Good bye!!" appear.

Technique: Animated sequence stored in the phone's ROM.

Audio: The Diamond startup and shutdown sounds from the previous logo.

Availability: Seen on the Samsung T400, T410, S500, E100, E700, X100 and X600.

4th Logo (2003-2008)

Visuals:

  • Startup: On a white environment, there is a zig-zag shape with five blue spheres connected into it, which spins closely to the camera. The screen fades into a white background and the Samsung wordmark appears.
  • Shutdown: The same zig-zag shape with connected spheres is shown on a white/light blue surface, but the lines disconnect. Then, the spheres fall down and bounce before the screen fades out.

Variants:

  • The movement of the shape can differ in rotation, position and speed depending on the model. This can also apply to the shutdown, where the spheres are placed differently and more can be seen.
  • Some devices have a black background with "GOOD BYE" in white glowing in at the shutdown.
  • Some devices have the Samsung wordmark fade in over a white background at the shutdown.
  • On certain phones such as X120, the background is a solid light green radial gradient, the lines are shaded in green and the spheres are brighter. This time the Samsung wordmark blurs in white white a navy drop shadow. The shutdown would be the same as the startup, but in reverse, with the text "GOOD BYE" blurring in as the shot of a zig-zag shape dims out.
    • E330 features this variant, but this time the animation is slower and the Samsung wordmark is in black, fading in at the beginning. The shutdown is the same, albeit with "Good Bye" in a condensed black font fading in as well.
  • Starting in late 2004, the white Samsung text, with a soft shadow, blurs in front of the screen without the background changing, with the background itself being a lavender radial gradient. In the shutdown, it would have the line connected balls, which are against a light blue radial gradient, spinning out with "Good Bye" fading in over a black background. This would be updated without the Good Bye screen, with the shape intact.
    • On the D500, the Samsung text simply fades in the startup.
  • Another variant has a light blue radial gradient background with the balls in orange-red, yellow, green and sky blue colors. This notably appears in Z and P series phones.
  • On the X480, the balls (which are orange, green, teal and royal blue with a glassy texture) are in an environment with some tubes resembling filmstrips. In this startup, the lines disconnect, and spheres fly closely to the camera before the screen fades into the part with the Samsung wordmark, which is darker blue. For the shutdown, when the lines disconnect, the spheres fall down to floor and broke into small pieces, while the screen dims out to white as the same Samsung wordmark appears.
  • One unidentified model has the intro glitching out (or repeating).
    • That may be because of the fast animation.
    • The shutdown does not repeat; although it just continues being a black background.
  • A monochrome variant exists on the external display of the X550.
  • The E630 has its own animation for the shutdown: A zig-zag shape (shaped as a letter W) with cyan spheres is shown on a white-lavender horizontal gradient environment with two panning translucent grids above and below. The lines disconnect, the spheres fell to the grid floor and then flew up to the top off-screen as the screen fades out.

Technique: CGI-animated sequence stored in the phone's ROM.

Audio: For the startup, it's the "Classical" or "Cheerful" tunes. For the shutdown, it would be the full shutdown themes.

Audio Variants:

  • On phones with true polyphonic capabilities, like the E800, E600 and D500, a bell rearrangement of the Classical theme is heard. This sound was also used in the previous logo. The "Future" sounds as described before can be heard on some of these devices.
  • For the C110, the music is low pitched.
  • On Anycall SCH- prefixed phones, a funky, energetic instrumental is heard. The original has an extended version of the music with a male voice saying "Digital Exciting. Anycall" at the end. The more common version has an alternate ending with an arpeggio. The shutdown theme used for this variant is a mellow breakbeat theme with chopped voice samples.
  • Alternate sounds were used for the SGH-D500, consisting of a rising bell arpeggio for the startup and a descending one for the shutdown. The shutdown sound was also featured on a few Z-series phones.
  • Z and P phones used a soft, bleeping arpeggio for the startup. The shutdown theme used a chiming arpeggio or the shutdown sound mentioned before.
  • The SGH-E620 model featured a more realistic re-arrangement of the "Classical" and "Future" themes, with the former having a piano and the latter having jazzy instruments.
  • The X550 uses an arrangement of Sixième Son's theme.

Availability: Seen on many Samsung phones from the era including the E600, C110, E300, C200, C200N, X140, E610, P510, P730, E850, X610, X120, E330, X480, D500, E620, E630, E730, E720, X550, etc.

5th Logo (2004-2005)

Visuals: There are several glass cubes splitting themselves into a white/light blue aurora background, as orange spheres appear moving into the screen. Once the spheres position themselves, the zig-zag connection line appears, and the Samsung wordmark in white fades in.

Variants:

  • For E820, spheres don't break the cubes, the cubes just float away before the spheres could break them as the Samsung wordmark fades in. For shutdown, the animation plays in reverse, and just after animation is finished, it fades out to black.
  • The shutdown animation stops at 9th frame in the X460. This frame is unseen on most YouTube videos about this animation.
  • For both E810 and D428, the camera zooms into a tunnel consisting of orange panels in a white environment, and then zooms out to reveal that it's a reflection from an orange zig-zag shape in a tunnel of white panels. Then the Samsung wordmark in blue blurs in to the right of the orange zig-zag shape, and the wordmark moves towards the center of the screen. For the shutdown, the orange zig-zag shape is in a glass cube; the camera zooms out of the glass cube, which is glowing in orange, to reveal a neighborhood of glass cubes in a white environment, while the Samsung wordmark in white fades in as the screen dimmed out a bit.
    • On the former, the startup stops at a frame where the Samsung wordmark blurs next to a zig-zag shape.

Technique: CGI-animated sequence stored in the phone's ROM.

Audio: Same themes as before, depending on region or device.

Availability: Seen on specific models released during the period, such as the D428, D488, E330, E800, E810, E820, X460, and X640.

6th Logo (2005-2008)


Visuals:

  • Startup: It starts out with the first Fun Club animation, with the difference being that the blobs form the first three letters of "S/\M" which turn into different colors, and once the background turns blue, the logo briefly turns transparent and moves back as the "SUNG" slides in next to it, and the logo then turns white.
  • Shutdown: The Fun Club shutdown animation from the first logo, except only the blue "S/\MSUNG" logo is shown at the end.

Variants:

  • A monochrome variant exists on the N710.
  • On Sprint models like later models of the SPH-A940, the Samsung logo is replaced with the Sprint logo. The logo then flashes into multiple outlined icons with the "Sprint PCS Vision" text below them. The shutdown has the same animation, with the "Powering Off" text appearing and fading out at the beginning.

Technique: CGI-animated sequence stored in the phone's ROM.

Audio: A 9-note monophonic theme for phones released until Samsung Tune was introduced. The notes are re-arranged in the shutdown.

Audio Variants:

  • On the SPH-A940, the "Future" sounds from the 2nd logo are used.
  • Startup sound made by Sixième Son, based on the default ringtone (Samsung Tune) for all phones that featured Samsung Tune as the default ringtone since mid-2006. On the B100 and B300, string and bell MIDI rearrangements of it can be heard.

Availability: It was spotted on budget phones, including the C120, X150, N710, B100 and B300 models.

7th Logo (2005-2009)

Visuals:

  • Startup: On a hazy blue/purple background with a flash, a "vortex" appears. The camera then pans to the top of the vortex and then the Samsung logo appears with a ripple behind it.
  • Shutdown: There is the same vortex on the same background with the stacked text "Powering Off", in black with a white glow, which disappears after a second. One second later, the Samsung logo appears rippling the background, which now includes some teal rays.

Variants:

  • Sometimes, a mobile carrier logo would appear instead of the Samsung logo.
  • On Sprint models, the Samsung logo is replaced with the Sprint logo. The logo then flashes into multiple outlined icons with the "Sprint Power Vision" text below them.
  • On the C416, the vortex is already formed, and the camera starts from the side of the vortex instead of the bottom. The camera turns around to be facing the vortex, then the Samsung logo fades in with a black outline. The shutdown plays the same animation in reverse.

Technique: CGI-animated sequence stored in the phone's ROM.

Audio: The mellow themes as featured on a few Korean devices with the 2nd logo. The whooshes could be rearranged.

Audio Variant: Sixième Son startup and shutdown sounds since mid-2006. May include carrier startup sounds instead.

Availability: Seen on Samsung phones, where this animation is associated with a Mobile Carrier company like: Sprint, S-Fone or U.S. Cellular. This might also be seen on some Anycall phones.

8th Logo (August 2007-February 2008)

Visuals:

  • Startup: On a black background, multiple blue/white outlines circle around each other, and die out as the Samsung wordmark fades in.
  • Shutdown: The reverse startup animation, with several differences: the outlines make a flash at the last frame and the Samsung wordmark stays for a longer time.

Technique: CGI-animated sequence stored in the phone's ROM.

Audio: Sixième Son startup and shutdown sounds.

Availability: It was spotted on the Symbian i550 and G810 models.

9th Logo (January 2008)

Visuals:

  • Startup: On a black background, a Dodger blue square outline appears at the center. It then rotates 180° while growing out of the screen, while the "S/\MSUNG" logo wipes in, with the URL fading in below.
  • Shutdown: There is the Dodger blue square outline appear spinning in and shrinking. It then disappears, and the Samsung wordmark and URL appear in the same fashion.

Technique: Animated sequence stored in the phone's ROM.

Audio: Sixième Son startup and shutdown sounds.

Availability: Used exclusively on the F490 model.

10th Logo (2008-2010)

Visuals:

  • Startup: On a black background, there is a turquoise blob outline appearing as the Samsung wordmark emerges and glows. The URL then appears below.
  • Shutdown: A reverse version of the startup, with a different blob animation.

Variants:

  • On budget models like the M200, there is a version without the URL.
  • On the F400, the blobs are purple instead of turquoise.
  • On later models, after the logo is formed, the screen might switch into the Samsung Mobile logo, stylized with the "S/\MSUNG" wordmark and the text "mob!le" next to it. The URL is shown below.
  • The S5620 Monte has a different animation. In it, an orange light is seen circling up, then moving down as the stacked text "Samsung S5620", with the former word being left-aligned, is revealed with a shine passing through. The light then vanishes, and the logo turns into plain orange. It then switches into the "S/\MSUNG mob!le" screen.

Technique: CGI-animated sequence stored in the phone's ROM.

Audio: Sixième Son startup and shutdown sounds.

Audio Variants:

  • On the F400, a hip-hop arrangement of the Sixième Son theme is used. The theme would be later re-used and remixed in other Beat Edition branded Samsung phones.
  • On the V820, higher pitched pad stem was removed from both the startup and shutdown sounds, like on the Z230, which uses first Fun Club animation.
  • On Windows Mobile devices like the i900 Omnia, i200, and i740, the theme is played with a plucked violin.

Availability: Seen on some Samsung phones including the Omnia and Corby series. It has also appeared on the first ever Samsung Galaxy.

11th Logo (2009-2013)

Visuals:

  • Startup: The screen fades into a white/turquoise background where a turquoise ribbon-like circle shape and the black "S/\MSUNG" logo are shown.
  • Shutdown: A reverse version of the startup.

Technique: Animated sequence stored in the phone's ROM.

Audio:

  • Samsung Mobile startup and shutdown by Sixième Son, either in MIDI or audio format, depending on the device.
  • Phones after 2011 feature a MIDI rearrangement of the Samsung Galaxy startup sound introduced with the S2.

Availability: Seen on GT-E branded phones released in the period including the GT-E1080, GT-E2210, GT-E1100 and GT-E2550 models.

12th Logo (2010-2015)

Visuals:

  • Startup: In a dark blue/teal gradient enivronment, there is a cyan trail across many other blue particles. The camera goes forward rapidly while following the trail as another blue trail comes in. After the screen reaches the end of the particle field, the particles eventually form the Samsung logo, albeit with the transparent oval.
  • Shutdown: The trails rotate in the oval before hitting the wordmark, which dissolves the logo and the transparent oval.

Variant: A still snapshot of the logo with the shady blue oval appears on low-spec feature phones released after 2011.

Technique: CGI-animated sequence stored in the phone's ROM.

Audio:

  • Sixième Son startup and shutdown sounds.
  • Either the Samsung Galaxy S1 or S2 themes. The still version used on feature phones features the MIDI rendition of the Galaxy S2 startup theme.
  • A quicker, higher-pitched, and airy sounding rendition of the Samsung Mobile theme was used on the Galaxy 3 i5800 and Galaxy 5 i5500.

Availability: Seen on some phones during the era, including several feature phones and non-S Galaxy devices such as the Galaxy Ace.